I did my summer internship in corporate strategy at Comcast. A week in, the head of our group got tapped to be the next COO of Sky Europe. Comcast had just acquired Sky. He needed us to provide him with the materials to conduct multiple meetings in the region. Who are the major players? What do the regulatory environments look like? What are our competitors offering? What do customers want?
I was mostly focused on Italy, Germany, and Sweden. Enel is a major utility company in Italy. It was at the center of one of our cases in the Executive course, and it just so happened that a major technology in our broadband rollout plan for Italy involved a joint venture between Enel and the Italian government. I was way ahead of the curve. My teammates asked, “How did you know all about this?” I told them Yale SOM is an international business school. It was great to see things come full circle like that.
There are so many leadership opportunities at SOM, I don’t know where to start. First, there are the amazing speakers who come here: John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, the President of Ghana, Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke, Rupert Murdoch—those are the ones I attended last year. Just listening to them is an education.
This is also a safe space to develop leadership skills. Within the curriculum, almost all of the coursework is team-based, and you learn to facilitate collaboration. I think that goes a long way towards developing leaders.
I’ve also taken on active roles in Student Government, and I’m now class president. Yale SOM students are always trying to improve the lives of other students, whether in their own program, in other degree programs, or in the wider university. We’re working to make the school an even better place for future students.
Eventually I’d like to be an owner or manager of a business or a division within the tech and/or media industries. I feel most alive and engaged when I’m helping solve customer problems or working on growth metrics. I’m looking at venture capital opportunities or general management positions in tech or media as my next step.
There is such an abundance of career resources at Yale SOM. With the alumni community, second-year students, and the Career Development Office, I am so well connected. And there are always different companies and recruiters here on campus. Figuring out when to say no and when to say yes is really the biggest problem.
